Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Doctor visits this week

Last week Joshua had his first appointment with the gastroenterologist, Dr. Mascarenhas. It was mostly an introductory meeting, with more follow up to come. She did eliminate several possible issues from the list, and ordered some more blood work and tests.

This week we met with the Feeding Team at CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) to evaluate what is happening with his eating. The evaluation included a developmental pediatrician, a nutritionist, an occupational therapist, a speech therapist and a psychologist. It was a long day, but Joshua was a trooper.

They gave us a short report at the end of the appointment, with their findings and recommendations -- the full report will come in the six weeks. They confirmed the categorization of "Failure to Thrive", and observed his developmental delays. On the positive side, they eliminated any sensory processing issues as a possible cause of problems, and confirmed that his oral motor and swallowing skills were functional for feeding.

Their recommendations were fairly straight forward. Joshua has started taking daily vitamins and will begin visiting our pediatrician every two to three weeks to monitor his weight. They also suggested a few changes in our feeding techniques to help with intake volume. We will following up with them in six to eight weeks, after we complete the recommended lab work.

Thank you for your prayers. It was wonderful to receive input from so many different disciplines. And they are really working well with our G.I. doctor. We very are encouraged by this team of support with which we have been provided.